by Aaron Oster
Arnold snorted, getting the attention of the small group of soldiers he was traveling with. One of the men gave him a questioning look, but he just waved him off.
He’d been traveling with this particular group of men for the last week and a half. They were heading for the South Kingdom border in the hopes of catching Morgan there. The soldiers didn’t know why they were on this mission, and Princess Katherine had threatened him with severe bodily harm if they should find out.
He shivered at the memory of how angry she’d been when he’d told her of Grub’s escape.
He’d been sure she’d kill him for it, but apparently, she still needed him to track Morgan down. She’d sent men out after Grub, but he’d left on his mission before they’d returned. He highly doubted that they’d find him, so it was more than likely that his only chance of living to see another year would be to find Morgan and persuade him to meet with her.
She’d been very specific not to force it. She wanted her future husband to view her favorably, so she’d tasked him with making him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Arnold growled lightly as he thought of the ill-fated day when he’d agreed to take that job.
He technically hadn’t yet completed it, seeing as Sarah was still on the run. But he was hoping to kill two birds with one stone. Bring Morgan to the Princess and get Sarah back to her father. He would likely be furious that it took him this long, but at least his life would no longer be at risk. At least from Simon.
A light tap on his shoulder snapped him from his thoughts, and he turned to see a group of refugees heading their way.
He was now happy that he’d insisted on dressing in peasant clothes. It would be much easier to glean information if they weren’t dressed in the colors of an invading army.
He had his men slow their pace. He slumped his shoulders, taking on the appearance of a travel-weary group who was trying to escape the war. Their decreased pace meant that the two groups didn’t actually meet up for another ten minutes or so, but this gave Arnold the time to run over his back story in case they asked any questions.
The two groups stopped within a few paces of one another and Arnold plastered on his best fake friendly smile.
“Greetings to you. Have you any news of the goings on at the border?” he asked, making sure to pitch his voice higher and take on a more Central accent.
“If you’re trying to escape into the East Kingdom, you’re out of luck, my friend,” the man returned with a sad shake of his head. “They’re turning everyone away and killing those who try to get in.”
He let out a long sigh and motioned to the group behind him.
“I was hoping to get the family out of the kingdom as soon as possible, but now it looks like we’ll have to try for the South instead.”
Arnold nodded along with the man, plastering a look of concern on his face as he listened to the old man’s complaints.
He couldn’t care less about the old geezer’s griping, but if he had any information, it would be worth it.
“So they’re turning everyone away? They haven’t let anyone in? Not even citizens, or those with the correct paperwork?”
The old man cleared his throat and hacked up a lungful of phlegm. He spat the nasty glob to the side and Arnold had to resist the urge to cut the man in half for the disgusting behavior.
“Nope, not a single person was let through in the last week. You’d best turn around and head to the South. That’d be your best bet.”
Arnold pretended to think about that for a moment. His mind was racing with the possibility of finding his quarry, without the need for a long and exhausting chase.
If no one would be allowed in, that meant that Morgan and Sarah would still be in the Central Kingdom. They’d likely already tried for the walls and failed, so where would they be now?
“I thank you for your advice, friend,” Arnold said, giving him his best weary smile. “But my friends and I have been traveling for over a week without rest. Do you perhaps know of an inn nearby where we might rest our heads before heading south?”
“Yeah, there’s an inn not two days down the road. They’ll probably charge an arm and a leg, but it’s the only one for miles around.”
“Thank you for the information. It was most welcome,” he said, turning back to his group and motioning them forward.
“If I were you, I’d skip the inn and head straight south. I hear that the North is circling around this way to try and flank King Herald. It might be too late if you don’t go now.”
Arnold had to suppress a grin.
There were no Northern troops heading this way. That had just been a rumor he’d asked Katherine to spread to get people out of the area. It had only been a hunch, but he was glad to see that it hadn’t been in vain.
“I appreciate your concern, but we are much too weary to continue. We can always hold up at the inn if it gets too bad.”
“Suit yourself,” the man said with a shrug and spitting once more.
Arnold nodded to the man, then walked past him and continued down the road.
The chances that they were in that inn were very high- if what the disgusting man said was to be believed. Especially if no one was being allowed into the East Kingdom.
Arnold felt a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth for the first time in weeks.
It was about time things worked out for him.
5
Morgan groaned, waking from a troubled sleep and sat up in his bed. A small candle flickered on a nightstand, and beyond that was a small window, thrown open to the cool night air. He was confused for a few moments as he looked around the small, comfortable looking room until his brain caught up with what he was seeing.
He was likely in the inn that Sarah had mentioned before he’d passed out from the pain in his legs. He wasn’t sure how she’d managed to explain away a severely injured person slung over her shoulders.
Morgan was rudely snapped out of his thoughts as his legs throbbed painfully once again. Pulling the covers to the side, he winced, seeing the damage he’d managed to inflict on himself. His pants were torn and bloodied, covering up the horribly mangled limbs beneath. Both his legs had swollen up, making removing the pants all but impossible, and Morgan was secretly glad about that.
He’d known that something like this would likely happen, but he was just fine not being able to see the extent of the damage.
He quickly pulled the covers over his legs and leaned back against the wall. Looking over to the side, he saw Sarah passed out in a chair near the bed. Her mouth was wide open and a small line of drool had worked its way down her chin.
In the light of the early morning, he could see that she was a lot more banged up than he’d originally thought. Aside from the scrape on her face, her uniform had torn in several places and he could see bits of steel thread poking through.
He must have hit the ground harder than he’d thought if the tough uniforms had been shredded they way they had. He was just glad to be alive.
He winced as his legs throbbed painfully again and he closed his eyes, trying his best not to concentrate on them.
With his recovery trait, his body should be fully healed by around eight o’clock that night. At least, that’s what he hoped. He’d gotten a few bruises and cuts since awakening his supermage ability, but he hadn’t yet injured himself this badly. Then again, this could be a blessing in disguise. Better to find out now if it would work, rather than when they were in more dire straits.
There was one upside to this entire mess, though. As soon as he healed, he could likely rank up again and not lose any attribute points. That fall had probably saved him a good week of hard work.
He opened his eyes as he felt the bed shift under him, to see that Sarah had slumped forward and was now lying partially on the bed, still fast asleep. Morgan stared down at her sleeping form for a few seconds, watching the gentle rise and fall of her back.
He wondered why she hadn’t gotten into the bed with him. There
was plenty of room and that chair really didn’t look very comfortable.
Morgan pondered over this for a few minutes until an answer presented itself to him.
Of course! He’d been injured and she was afraid of jostling him in the night!
He smiled to himself, glad that he’d figured it out. He was figuring a lot of things out since he became a supermage.
It most likely had to do with his increased intelligence, that he was becoming so good at social interactions. In fact…
Morgan concentrated for a moment, then levitated a few inches off the bed. The pain had abated somewhat and he was able to concentrate enough to move through the air. As gently as he could manage, Morgan slipped his arms under Sarah’s sleeping form. Then he floated up a bit higher and drifted back to the bed.
It only took him a minute to have Sarah arranged comfortably on the bed and he nodded to himself once more.
Sarah would be very happy that he’d been so thoughtful. She might not even yell at him for getting hurt the way he did when she woke up. Not that he really understood why she got angry at all. He was the one who’d gotten hurt, not her, but for some odd reason, she always did get angry.
Morgan drifted over to his side of the bed and pulled the blanket to cover her as well. He watched as she curled up a bit and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
Yup! He’d definitely done the right thing.
With that thought in mind, Morgan closed his eyes and went back to sleep.
***
Six years ago…
Sarah was very excited. It was the day of her tenth birthday, and her father was finally allowing her to leave the manor and explore the city!
She’d never been to the city before.
She bounced out of her bed and went running down the halls to her parents’ bedchambers and began banging on the doors.
“Daddy! Mommy! It’s my birthday!”
One of the manor maids came rushing down the halls at the commotion and spotted Sarah immediately.
“Lady Sarah! Stop that this instant.”
Sarah turned away from the door, as grouchy old Millicent came striding down the halls.
She didn’t like Millicent. Millicent was mean.
But even Millicent’s angry face couldn’t ruin her good mood.
“It’s my birthday, and I wanted to tell my parents how excited I am to go into the city!” she said with a wide grin.
Millicent tut-tutted, and took her firmly by the arm, and began pulling her back to her room.
“Well, you can’t tell them. They’ve gone away on business and won’t be back until this evening.”
Sarah felt her face fall, and her good mood melted away.
Of course, they weren’t here; they never were.
“Can I still go into the city?” she asked, eyes beginning to water.
“Absolutely not!” Millicent said. “The city is no place for a woman of nobility. You will stay inside and study.”
“But I don’t want to study,” Sarah whined, feeling her heart sink even more, as all the plans for her birthday vanished in a puff of smoke.
“What’s going on here?”
They both stopped as Hint, Sarah’s personal guard, came walking through a door, holding a tray stacked high with blueberry pancakes- Sarah’s favorite breakfast.
“I wanted to go into the city today, but grumpy old Millicent won’t let me!” Sarah exclaimed.
“Young lady…!” Millicent began, but Hint was quick to cut her off.
“You may go now, Millicent. It is her birthday after all, and her parents did promise to allow her out today.”
Millicent looked between Sarah and Hint, clearly having trouble with the order. Hint technically outranked her. As Sarah’s personal guard, he had the final say on all matters when her parents weren’t around.
Finally, she huffed to herself and released Sarah’s arm.
“This isn’t over, young lady. You will work twice as hard tomorrow to make up for today’s missed lessons!”
Then she marched off, back stiff as a board and shoes clicking noisily on the hardwood floor.
The two of them watched her disappear down the hallway, then Sarah turned to Hint with a huge smile.
“Thank you!” she said, running at him and wrapping her arms around his waist.
“Whoa! Easy there!” he said with a laugh. “You’ll make me drop your breakfast.”
Sarah released him and began chattering animatedly about all of the things she was looking forward to seeing in the city as they made their way back to her room.
“I can see you’ve been planning this trip for a while,” Hint said, placing the tray on a small table and setting the fork and knife down next to it.
“It’s all I’ve been thinking about for the last year!” Sarah exclaimed, plopping down into her chair and snatching up the fork and knife.
She waited for Hint to pour the dark maple syrup over the stack, then eagerly dug in. She squeaked in delight as the first bite hit her tongue, and happily chewed while Hint set out her clothes for the day.
Sarah loved blueberry pancakes, but her excitement at finally going out made her eat just a little faster than she normally would. Within two minutes, she had cleared her entire plate and stood hiccupping as Hint held her clothes out to her.
“It really isn’t good to eat so quickly, Lady Sarah,” he said, shaking his head in mock disappointment. The smile on his face said otherwise and Sarah grinned back at him, snatching up her dress and dashing behind the partition to change.
Hint let out a long sigh, then set to cleaning up her plate and utensils, stacking them up neatly and leaving them by the door. He knew that the manor staff would be around to pick it up, so he didn’t feel too guilty about it.
It took Sarah all of five minutes to change- an almost unheard of record, as she normally fussed and primped before the mirror for over an hour before she was satisfied.
Hint suppressed the urge to laugh at her disheveled appearance and took a few minutes to straighten her dress and fix her hair. Once he was satisfied that she looked presentable, he opened her door and she dashed out into the hallway, hopping excitedly from foot to foot.
“Come on! Come on! Let’s go already!” she exclaimed, cheeks flushed red with excitement.
Hint just shook his head once more, closing Sarah’s door behind her and heading down the long corridor. She kept running ahead of him, then sprinting back when he didn’t arrive quickly enough, only to repeat the process as soon as she returned.
Hint let out a long sigh, wishing he had her energy. In truth, he was getting old. He was an ability user, and one of the strongest in the city, but at rank 7, he was never destined for long life. He was nearing his seventies, and would need to retire soon; possibly even by the end of this year.
He smiled as Sarah came dashing back for the tenth time and tried to speed him up, but he stubbornly refused; and after a moment, she dashed off again.
He just really wished she could find a friend. Life as a young noblewoman was lonely, especially with the parents she’d been stuck with; and a friend would make life bearable for her once he was gone.
His thoughts trailed off as they finally emerged from the manor and into the grounds. It was springtime, and the flowers were in full bloom around the garden. Sarah leaned down to sniff at one of them. Her nose wrinkled up and she sneezed from the nose-full of pollen she’d received.
She heard Hint chuckling from behind her and turned to stick her tongue out at him, before dashing down the path, relishing the feeling of freedom that came with being young.
She was forced to stop when she reached the manor gates and had to wait for Hint to catch up with her.
Why was he always so slow?
Hint stopped by the gate, and the guards who’d been blocking her path stepped aside to let them pass. Sarah felt her heart flutter with excitement as she finally walked through the gates and out into the cobbled courtyard that surrounded the manor.
Sharp pain in his leg brought Morgan out of peaceful slumber. He slowly cracked his eyes open, blinking at the almost blinding sunlight streaming in through the open window.
He felt something shift against him and pain flared from his legs once again. Groaning lightly, he tried to sit up. It was only then that he felt the weight on his chest. Looking down, he saw the top of Sarah’s head just a few inches from his face. Her arm was thrown over his chest and she’d pressed herself into him. He blinked in surprise, as his sleep-addled mind finally kicked into gear.
He’d woken up in the middle of the night and seen her sleeping in a chair, so he’d moved her to the bed. But how had she gotten all the way to his side?
Morgan felt her shift a bit and winced as her knee bumped against one of his legs.
So that was what had woken him.
Morgan tried to wiggle away from her, but the more he tried to move, the tighter she clung. He could now feel every curve of her soft body against his, the lithe strength of her muscles and the soft pounding of her mana-heart.
Why did she have to be so damned heavy?
Morgan tried to shift away from her once more, but it was no good.
Sarah just wouldn’t let him go.
Sighing to himself, he began prodding her lightly in an attempt to wake her.
He knew she wouldn’t be happy with him waking her up. She looked quite content sleeping on top of him, but he wasn’t a bed. He also didn’t like the feeling of her knee poking his injured legs.
After a few moments of poking and prodding, she finally began to stir.
“Sarah, can you please move?” Morgan said in a low voice.
Sarah shifted against him, then turned her head, blinking sleepily up at him. Her hair had come out of the braid in her sleep, and it clung to her face in messy clumps. She stared at him for a few moments, squinting and trying to understand what was happening.